The Story

Our 13′s competed in the MLK tournament this past weekend, where they CRUISED thru Saturday pool play, with no team scoring more than 14 points against them!! Sunday proved to be a different story unfortunately where they lost in 3 in the first round of Gold.

Coach Ragan had much to say about this weekend: ” This weekend was my first time with the 13′s, and what a weekend it was!! We walked into a huge tournament Saturday morning and simply never stopped after a great warm-up! We finished 6-0 in pool play! I couldn’t believe the way these girls were playing! They were serving upwards of 3-8 times each time they went back to serve, and they stayed so consistent while still managing some big aces. I was VERY impressed by Addie’s desire and her ability to spot serve! She was always looking at me for places to serve and gave us big points doing so. The setting by Katherine, Merritt, and KK was outstanding!! I love that they double as key players in the front row as well. We were all loud, strong, and confident on day 1, and definitely took care of business in serve receive and rally play as well. Day 2 brought us noticeable bigger competition (rightfully so as we were in the GOLD bracket of MLK). I have to say that I was so extremely proud of the way the girls stepped on the court and played with confidence to start set one! Unfortunately , things took a different turn late in the first set and we ended up losing two close sets by 5 and 4 points. We recovered well, however, and finished the day with a big, hard-fought, 3 set win! I thought our liberos, both Cierra and Allison played their very best games on Sunday! I told them that as a former setter myself, I would have LOVED them for the perfect passes and digs they were producing during the rallies! Madison also had some incredible digs all throughout those final two matches, and she and Sara both produced strong, consistent serving and hitting all tournament. Most interesting and impressive to me throughout the whole tournament, however, was learning and watching how each player handles pressure! Over the years, I’ve seen kids handle pressure in many different ways, and I think it says alot about a player and her ability to lead in big games. I was impressed with KK, Hannah, and Chloe for that on Sunday! They were the very same players, if not even stronger and more confident, in the high pressure situations Sunday brought, as they were Saturday when we were rolling thru games. This is a HUGE deal, especially with these girls being so young, because it is an ability that is so important now, and only increasingly more important the older they get! While they weren’t the only ones to handle pressure well, I do believe they handled it best and produced in major ways for us this weekend. That being said, I’m going to name Hannah our MVP for the weekend!! She was a player I always wanted on the court, but who stayed loud and positive when she was off the court as well! She played so strong in the middle, and then also played great as an OH when we needed her there. I’m very very proud of Hannah, and truly each and every player this weekend!”

The stats show our leading hitter as Addison with 24 kills, followed by Katherine with 14 and Chloe 11. Assists had Katherine in the lead with 29, while KK had 19 and Merritt with 10. Serving was strong all across the board, though Sara led with 9 aces, Katherine 6, while Hanna/Allison/Addison/Chloe/KK ALL had 5 aces each!

Great job, 13′s! I think SLAM 13 Purple Adidas better look out for us in the future…..;)